There are two distinct but related parts to this exegesis. Firstly there is the production of a fifty-five minute documentary Return of the Trojan Horse, and secondly a written exegesis. The latter advances an academic argument centred around the research question - how to motivate the role of the expository documentary at a time when the documentary field is dominated by the debate between philosophical scepticism and empirical realism, while in aesthetic terms, the documentary mode itself is led by perfomative/interactive documentaries such as Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine. My response to this question is informed in theoretical terms by the Critical Realist paradigm. The use of Critical Realism enables the exegesis to supply an integrated approach which seeks to transcend both the sceptical and the empirical realist positions. In doing so, the exegesis makes a contribution both to documentary theory and the Critical Realist paradigm itself by applying it to the field of documentary film theory. As such the exegesis addresses an absence of aesthetic theorising within the Critical Realist paradigm. As part of the process I review, analyse and synthesise the key theoretical arguments of authors Bill Nichols, Michael Renov, Brian Winston, John Corner and Noel Carroll. The documentary sub-genres are then located within the context of these theoretical debates while the emphasis is placed on the expository sub-genre as utilised in my own documentary film, Return of the Trojan Horse. The exegesis then critically discusses Return of the Trojan Horse from a Critical Realist perspective and reflects on the strategies involved in the production of the film. As the topic of the film deals with the negative impacts of economic liberalisation, the mass media is briefly discussed within the context of a deregulated market and right-wing politics, while reviewing Herman and Chomsky's 'A Propaganda Model' in Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media, 2002.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/265216 |
| Date | January 2006 |
| Creators | Jensen, Rhonda Karen |
| Publisher | Queensland University of Technology |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Copyright Rhonda Karen Jensen |
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